Forbidden Love (South Coast Brothers Book 4) Page 2

  “Ash, you ok?” I snapped out of my Drake fantasy and looked back towards Cammie. Mason was now sitting with us and his arm was draped over her shoulders.

  “Yeah, I’m just feeling a little bit hot. I’m going to get a breath of fresh air.” I stood up, flicked my hair over my shoulder and tried to make my way through all of the people. Once I was outside, I strolled down to the piercing and tattoo building and leant against the wall, it was peaceful down here, I couldn’t hear the noise from the party and I closed my eyes taking deep breaths.

  “You ok?”

  I screamed when a loud booming voice interrupted my peace.

  “Fuck, Drake. You scared me half to death.” I placed my hand over my erratically beating heart and took some deep breaths. I looked around to see that we were the only ones down here. “What are you doing down here?”

  “I saw you come out here, I just wanted to check that you were alright.” He pushed his hands into his jeans pockets and rocked on his feet. Something about that movement made him seem nervous and not as cocky as he normally was.

  “Yeah, I just wanted a breath of fresh air before I went to bed and it’s nice and quiet down here.”

  “It is.” He took a step closer to me and I had to look up at him. What was he doing? “You look beautiful tonight.”

  “I do?” I asked. I was only wearing my black skinny jeans, sandals and a blue off the shoulder top.

  “Hmmm mmmm,” he answered, his gaze kept jumping from my eyes to my lips. If he wanted to kiss me then I wish he would just do it. He took another step closer and I unconsciously reached out and placed my hands on his waist, underneath his leather prospect jacket.

  “You are gorgeous, Ashlyn,” he whispered, his breath warmed my lips and before I knew what was happening he was kissing me. His hands framed my face so he could tilt my head to gain better access. My fingers squeezed into his sides as I opened my mouth for him, once our tongues started to dance my body flooded with desire. I had never felt like this before and I wanted more. I slipped my hands underneath his t-shirt to feel his warm, toned skin.

  “Drake!” Someone yelled. “You out here?” He pulled back.

  “Yeah, Solar, what’s up?”

  “Get up here, man.”

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered and before I knew what had happened he had left me standing there, alone and horny.

  ***

  Drake

  I had been a little longer than what I told Ashlyn, the guys were full of stories and their women just kept feeding me. I wasn’t one to ever turn down free food, especially food that tasted that great.

  I turned the handle on the room that me and Ashlyn were staying in and rushed in as I heard a whimper. I didn’t expect to come back to see Ashlyn thrashing around in the bed, she had kicked the bed covers off and she was only wearing long PJ bottoms and a t-shirt, that had ridden up so that her skin was on show. I couldn’t see much as it was dark in the room, her cry snapped me out of my perusal of her and I rushed over to the bed. Should I wake her? She sounded distressed and my heart broke to see her like this. I definitely had it bad for this woman. It hurt me to see her hurting. I tested out the waters by calling out her name, she didn’t respond so I placed my hand on her leg and she kicked out against me. Fuck, what was going on in that head of hers?

  “Ashlyn, darlin’, I need you to listen, I need you to wake up. It’s Drake. You’re safe, darlin’, please just wake up.” I ran my hand over her head and her eyes pinged open, she screamed and shot up the bed until her back was flat against the headboard and her knees were tight against her chest. She cradled them and buried her head on her knees. I flicked the light on beside the bed and watched as she sobbed and rocked herself gently. Fuck, I didn’t know what to do, I know what I wanted to do, I wanted to hold her tight against me and not let her go. I stood up from the bed and slung my leather jacket on the floor, followed by my boots, socks, jeans and shirt. I wasn’t sure if she was ready for skin on skin contact so I left my boxers and white t-shirt on. I climbed in the bed beside her and laid down.

  “Come here, darlin’.” I opened my arm up for her and at first she looked unsure, her eyes were red and wet and her hair was a mess, I wanted to smooth it away from her beautiful face but didn’t think that would go down too well. I nodded in encouragement as she looked at me, then she threw herself at me. Her face planted my chest and she cried, soaking my t-shirt. I rubbed my hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her. Once her cries had silenced, she pushed back slightly.

  “Sorry, I got your t-shirt all wet.”

  “It’s fine.” I reached behind me and pulled it off over my head, dropping it onto the floor. I looked at Ashlyn as she gasped and I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my face when her eyes burned into my chest. Was she checking me out?

  “Do you wanna talk about it?” She shook her head as she laid her head back on my chest and trailed her finger over my chest tattoo. I was trying to be caring and understanding, but my body clearly didn’t get the memo, as it was reacting to the way she was touching me. “Do you wanna go back to sleep?” She shook her head.

  “I’m scared,” she whispered.

  “What are you scared of darlin’?”

  “I don’t want to see him again.” She didn’t sound like she was crying but the evidence was on my chest as I felt her tears run down my skin.

  “You’re not going to see him again,” I stated.

  “I do see him, every day, every night. In here.” She stopped tracing the lines on my chest to point to her head. “I can’t get him out of there.”

  “Darlin’, what can I do? How can I make this better for you?”

  “You can’t. It’s something that I have to live with, forever.” She turned away from me and rolled onto her side. “I’m damaged.”

  I scooted down the bed until I was laid behind her, I wrapped my hand around her tummy and pulled her back into me. She let out a little yelp and stiffened in my arms.

  “Go to sleep, darlin’, I’ve got you.” She relaxed and I nuzzled my face into her hair, kissing her gently on her neck.

  Chapter 2

  Ashlyn

  When I woke the next morning my head was pounding and I was overheating. As I tried to move, a strong arm held on tight to me. I froze for a brief second until I realised that it was Drake’s arm. I peeked at him over my shoulder and he was still fast asleep. He looked peaceful and I didn’t want to interrupt that. I slowly raised his arm and tried to crawl out from under it. When I was almost free, his grip tightened and he yanked me back against him.

  “Where do you think you’re going, darlin’?” he murmured into my hair, his voice was deep and husky from sleep.

  “I need to use the bathroom,” I told him as I tried to pull away from him.

  “Are you ok?” he asked as he nuzzled my neck, the feel of his beard caused goose bumps to cover my body and a shot of arousal pulsed between my legs.

  I nodded my head, I didn’t want to think about last night. I was humiliated enough that he had seen me like that. I often suffered with night terrors but I just dealt with them on my own. I never slept much anymore because of them, I was used to only getting a few hours of sleep a night.

  Once he released my body so he could stretch, I darted out of the bed and into the bathroom so I could release my full bladder and clean my teeth. As I washed my face, the bathroom door swung open and Drake stood there in his boxers with his muscles and tattoos on show; I couldn’t help but stare. His arms were holding onto the top of the doorway and my eyes snapped to his when he chuckled.

  “Are you about finished, darlin’? I need to grab a shower before we head out.”

  “Umm, yeah,” I stumbled over my words. I splashed my face with water, removing my face cleanser. On closer inspection, the shower wasn’t as clean as I would have liked it to be so I settled for a wash over the sink. “We’re not staying here?”

  “Nope, we need to keep moving.” He brushed past me, opened the s
hower door and started the water running.

  “I’m sorry, Drake.”

  “Hey, what are you sorry for?” he asked as he pushed my chin up so I had to look at him.

  “I’m sorry that you had to be the one to look after me.”

  “I’m not. I trust all my brothers but I want to be the one to keep you safe. You’re mine, darlin’.”

  He kept saying that I was his, what did he mean by this? That he wanted my body? I was too afraid to ask in case it was just a sexual thing, when I wanted so much more with him. I was snapped out of my daze when the shower door creaked, I looked over my shoulder to see a naked Drake climbing in. Oh, that tight ass of his was gorgeous, I wanted to sink my teeth into it to see how firm it actually was. My eyes shot to his when I heard him clearing his throat.

  “You ok, darlin’?” He smiled. I nodded my head frantically and rushed out of the bathroom to get dressed for the day.

  ***

  I had decided to wear my jeans, t-shirt and the leather jacket that Drake had bought me, he said it would protect me better if for some reason we came off the bike. I was glad that I was wearing it as the weather had turned colder, I found myself tightening onto Drake even more, I had convinced myself that it was due to me being cold but I just felt like I needed be close to him to feel safe.

  “Shit.” Drake muttered. I rose my head from laying against his back and was about to ask what was wrong when I saw his head moving as he constantly looked between the two side mirrors on his bike. “Hold on tight, darlin’,” he told me before he took a sharp left turn. As we turned, I heard and felt a clang against the side of the bike, shortly followed by a hot pain searing across my calf muscle.

  “Fuck!” I cried out, followed by a sob.

  “What? What is it?” Drake shouted as we sped along a back road.

  “My leg hurts. What’s going on, Dray?” I noticed him looking behind us in his mirrors again.

  “I think we lost them. I’m gonna pull up behind those trees over there so I can get a look at you. Can you hold on for a couple more minutes?”

  “Yeah,” I spoke softly as I tried to ignore the throbbing in my leg and what felt like blood trickling.

  A couple of minutes later, Drake stopped the bike, jumped off and pulled me off with him. He settled me on top of a tree stump and he yanked his helmet off before falling to his knees in front of me.

  “Where does it hurt?”

  “My leg,” I answered as I pulled my helmet off and raised my right leg in the air. As Drake gripped it, I cried out in pain.

  “Shit, sorry, darlin’.” He tried to lift my jean leg over the pain but they were a skinny fit, so it wasn’t moving. I watched as he gripped his knife and sliced my trousers open. I whimpered as he moved the material away.

  “What did this to me?” I asked.

  “We were being shot at. I think a bullet must have grazed your leg as it’s only a deep scratch, not a bullet hole.”

  “Oh my god, they’ve found me!” I cried as I jumped to my feet. I looked around frantically as I tried to figure out where to run to.

  “Darlin’, they will not get to you. I believe it’s a scare tactic, I couldn’t get a look at their cuts but they were on newer model bikes. I think Switch wants us to know that he is watching us.”

  “Oh god.” I sobbed, covering my face with my hands.

  “It’s ok, let me wrap your leg up. Do you think you can still ride?” I nodded my head. I just wanted to get out of here. Drake pulled out a bandana from his saddlebag and secured it around my calf muscle to help stop the bleeding. “We’re nearly at the next clubhouse, it’s only about ten minutes away, but I think we need to stick to the back lanes. If the pain gets worse tell me.”

  “Ok.” He pulled me up by my hand and hugged me close to his body. I hobbled my way back to his bike and he placed me on it. He kissed me on the forehead before securing his helmet in place and climbing on in front of me.

  Drake

  Shit, I couldn’t keep her safe, it’s been two fucking days and she’s already been shot at and got injured too. I paced up and down the hallway outside of the door we would be sharing at the Leicestershire Crusaders MC. The clubs Doc was in with her, along with the prez’s wife Denise.

  “Drake,” I answered my phone as it started buzzing in my pocket.

  “Prospect,” my VP answered. “What’s going on?”

  “We were followed. Ashlyn got grazed with a bullet. I think I lost them, I hope I did. I don’t wanna bring that shit to this club.”

  “That’s what the chapters are for, to protect all the crusaders brothers. Patch or no patch. Is Ashlyn ok? Just a bullet graze?”

  “Yeah, she’s fine, the Doc is cleaning her up now.” I heard a screech in the background on the phone.

  “Cam, sit your ass down, she’s fine,” I heard the VP telling his Old Lady, who happened to be a close friend of Ashlyn’s. “You will be the death of me, woman.” He sighed. “Prospect, is Ashlyn up to talking. My wife won’t leave me alone until she speaks to her.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, let me get her.” I knocked lightly on the door and peered my head around it. “Can I come in?”

  “Of course, we’re all done here,” the Doc said as he gathered up his equipment.

  “Darlin’, Cammie wants to talk to you.” I loved the way her face lit up when I mentioned her friend. She grabbed at the phone and placed it against her ear.

  “Cam? Oh my god, how are you? How’s Mason and the baby?”

  “I’ve told Miss. Duncan to keep the wound clean and dry for at least a couple of days and try to rest too. I’ve left her some pain medication on the bedside table but she’s insisting that she doesn’t need it. It may help her sleep.”

  “Thanks, Doc.” I shook his hand before he left the room. I looked at Ashlyn and she was chatting away to Cammie at a mile a minute. I couldn’t help but smile at her.

  “She captured your heart?” Denise asked me.

  “Yep, a long time ago.” Denise was the Prez’s Old Lady, she was average height with a curvy figure and she didn’t let anyone walk all over her, patch or no patch. She was good for the Prez, kept him in line.

  “When you getting your patch?”

  “When I can return home, once Ashlyn is safe.”

  “Do you think you can keep your feelings in check until then? Not act on it?”

  “Honestly?” I looked away from Ashlyn and into Denise’s bright blue eyes. “I don’t think I can, I’ve fallen in love with her.”

  “If you had to choose, her or your brothers, which would you choose?”

  Shit, that was a tough question. I loved all of my brothers, they took me in when I had nowhere else to go and they made me a part of their family. I respected them all. Ashlyn was the one my heart yearned for, I didn’t feel complete unless I was near her. She was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life and build a family with.

  “Is it likely to come down to that?” I asked her. Usually club women were kept out of club business but this Prez decided that he was going to run things differently. She was never kept in the dark.

  “Possibly, just be prepared to have to pick one or the other.”

  “And if I pick her?”

  “Well, that would all depend on how your Prez was feeling. My old man wouldn’t stand for his rules to be broken.”

  “Shit,” I swore, I knew exactly what she was saying. I wouldn’t get a patch and I’d be tossed out and that was the nicest scenario.

  “All you have to ask yourself is… Is she worth it?” She patted my chest before she left the room. My chest filled with happiness when I heard Ashlyn laugh, I hadn’t heard that for a couple of days. I turned towards the bed and her smile was big and bright. She was resting against the wooden headboard and she was wearing her bed clothes with one of her trouser legs rolled up to her knee and the bright white bandage was noticeable. There was a small smear of crimson seeping through while it healed. I sat on the edge of the bed beside her and
let my head fall into my hands.

  “Love you too, Cam. Bye.” Ashlyn placed the phone on the bedside table and I could feel her stare burning into me. “Dray.” She sighed. Fuck, I loved it when she called me that. “Are you ok?”

  I took a deep breath and told her what I was thinking.

  “I think someone else needs to come here and protect you.” She gasped. “I’m not doing a good enough job. Maybe Hitch was right, a prospect can’t do the job of a patched member. I don’t want to lose you.” We both sat in silence and I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. “I’ll call the Prez and get someone else sent here.”

  “No,” she sobbed out. That sound broke my heart and I looked over at her with my head still dipped and my forearms resting on my legs. “Please don’t leave me.” She whispered.

  “Darlin’, I…” She moved faster than lightning and before I knew it she was sitting in my lap with her bad leg resting on the bed.

  “Dray, I need you. I want you to protect me, please don’t give up on me.”

  “I’m not giving up on you. I want you safe and I’m clearly not doing a good enough job.” I pointed at her leg.

  “You can’t stop anyone following us and shooting at us. That’s not your fault.” She gripped my face in her hands so she could look into my eyes. She was so beautiful with her long blonde hair tied up on top of her head and her blue eyes sparkling as she looked at me. “I wouldn’t feel safe with anyone else.” She lowered her forehead onto mine as she ran her hand over my head. It felt good, so good that I could feel my jeans tightening. She was exactly where I needed her to be, in my lap.

  “Dray?” She moaned as she wiggled in my lap. I looked up at her and that was when she attacked my mouth, her soft lips were pressed against mine. My hands found her hips and I dragged her body closer to mine in a possessive way. I bit down onto her bottom lip and her mouth opened for me. I thrust my tongue inside, taking over the control of the kiss. My jeans were growing tighter and tighter and I needed to feel more of her. Just as I was about to explore her body there was a loud bang on the bedroom door.